The Sojourns In Nature Photo Blog » My Hot Shot

October 18, 2009

My Hot Shot – Liquid Gold Sunset

Liquid Gold Sunset Over Lake of Two Mountains
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 20mm
f/22, 2s, ISO 100
Filters: Singh-Ray 3-stop hard GND, Lee 2-Stop hard GND, B+W 105mm polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with RRS BH-55 ballhead, cable release

Hey all,

Rob here. I kind of missed the spontaneity of writing small, quick blog posts… You know, something that highlights a mood, a thought, an event, or a specific image. Gustav and I will keep on writing the longer monthly blog posts, but I also want to write more often to stay in touch. So this is the first post of a new series of “My Hot Shot”. There may a few per week, or only one per month – it’ll depend on my work schedule.

This shot was taken on Labour Day 2009. The beautiful clouds that were hanging around at 17:00 sadly disappeared by 18:15 as I was preparing to head out for this shot.

The bright, cloudless sky made the exposure rather difficult. I ended up using two graduate neutal density filters to hold back the very bright sky. I placed a 2-stop GND just above the rocks (about 2/3rds of the way up), along with a 3-stop GND at the horizon. I also used a polarizer to remove the harsh reflections from the wet rocks in the foreground.

I absolutely love the golded layer of water – this is really what makes this image special. The composotion also works well because of the placement of the horizon, the sun, the tuft of grass in the foreground, and the way the rocks leads your eyes into the sun.

Hope you enjoy it! All the best,